Comprehensive suspicious activity monitoring and alert system

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products for integrated risk management. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide for monitoring financial institution data from a plurality of financial institutions, including transactional data associated with multiple products and channels, to identify suspicious activity potentially associated with identity theft incidents and, in specific embodiments, communicate suspicious activity and/or identity theft alerts and/or reports in response to identifying the suspicious activities and/or confirming an identity theft incident associated with the suspicious activity. In further embodiments, the monitored financial institution may include one or more, and in some embodiments all of, account data, asset data, liability data, negative file data, customer data, device data, credit data, or biometric data. In addition, in certain embodiments, the monitored data may include non-financial institution data.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. ∅119

The present Application for Patent claims priority to ProvisionalApplication No. 61/265,683 entitled “Integrated Fraud and Customer DataNetwork” filed Dec. 1, 2009, and assigned to the assignee hereof andhereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD

In general, embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods andcomputer program products for risk management and, more particularlymonitoring for suspicious activity across multiple financialinstitutions and multiple products and channels within the financialinstitutions, to identify suspicious activity potentially associatedwith identity theft incidents and, in some embodiments, communicatealerts in the event of identification of a suspicious activity and/or aconfirmed identity theft incident.

BACKGROUND

Risk may be defined in a business environment as an event, situation orcondition that may occur and if it occurs, will impact the ability of abusiness to achieve its desired objectives. Risk management involves (1)defining those events, situations or conditions and the potential impactto the business, customers and the like; (2) the ability to detect thosedefined events when they occur; (3) when detected, executing apre-defined set of actions to minimize negative impacts based upon thelevel of threat and customer impact of mitigation alternatives (e.g.,risk mitigation, prevention and the like); and (4) when unable toprevent a risk event from negatively impacting, executing a set ofactions to recover all or part of the loss. In some cases, recoveryincludes supporting the legal process in criminal prosecution and civilactions.

In the financial world, risk management is necessary in various aspectsof the business. Financial institutions manage various forms of risk.One such risk is credit risk, which is a risk related to the inabilityof a customer, client or other party to meet its repayment or deliveryobligations under previously agreed upon terms and conditions. Creditrisk can also arise from operational failures that result in an advance,commitment or investment of funds. Another financial risk is marketrisk, the risk that values of assets and liabilities or revenues will beadversely affected by changes in market conditions, such as marketmovements or interest rates. Additional forms of risk are financialcrimes, including fraud. Fraud involves the use of another person's orcompany's identity or financial accounts without their permission forthe purpose of financial gain. Examples of fraud include identity theft,mass compromises, phishing, account takeover, counterfeit debit orcredit cards, etc. Other financial crimes involve using the financialsystem to enable or hide criminal activity. These include activitieslike money laundering; terrorist financing, financial transactions withcountries or companies that are prohibited by law (e.g.,boycotted/sanctioned countries, etc.)

Financial institution fraud, otherwise referred to as bank fraud, is aterm used to describe the use of fraudulent means to obtain money,assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institutionand/or the financial institution's customers. While the specificelements of a particular banking fraud law vary between jurisdictions,the term “bank fraud” applies to actions that employ a scheme orartifice, as opposed to bank robbery or theft. For this reason, bankfraud is sometimes considered a white collar crime. Examples of bankfraud include, but are not limited to, check kiting, money-laundering,payment/credit-card fraud, and ancillary frauds such as identificationtheft, phishing and Internet fraud and the like.

In addition to bank fraud, other financial institution business activitymay rise to the level of suspicious activity that may be associated withother criminal acts or activities. In this regard, the suspiciousactivity, if identified, may be instrumental in identifying criminals,the location of criminals or other information pertinent to criminalactivity, such as telephone numbers, Internet Protocol (IP) addressesand the like. These suspicious activities may include, but are notlimited to, bank transactions, such as deposits, withdrawals, loantransactions and the like; credit card transactions; online bankingactivity such as compromised online banking IDs and the like; electroniccommerce activity; call center activity and the like. Additionallysuspicious activity may be determined from data related to computersecurity violators (i.e., hackers), fraudulent telephone calls, andentities associated with divisive computer programs (e.g., viruses,trojans, malware and the like) and the like.

In many instances, financial institutions have difficulty identifyingongoing bank fraud or other nefarious activities until the fraud orcrime has escalated to a level that has serious negative financialimpact. Further, by the time a defrauded financial institution discoversthe fraudulent activity, the perpetrator has oftentimes moved on toanother financial institution. In some instances, in addition to movingon to a different financial institution, the perpetrator moves on to adifferent scheme using a different financial product. For example, if aparticular perpetrator commits checking fraud against a savings bank,then the savings bank, upon discovering the fraud, will likely reportthe checking fraud to an organization that collects data on checkingfraud. However, if the same perpetrator later attempts to commitcredit-card fraud against a credit-card institution, the credit-cardinstitution will be unaware of the perpetrator's previous act ofchecking fraud.

Risk assessments in the credit realm are undertaken to determine if acustomer or a potential customer is credit-worthy, i.e., if creditshould be extended or curtailed. Currently such risk or creditassessments are conducted by credit bureaus. However, credit bureaus arelimited in the information that they have access to in making suchassessments. Specifically, credit bureau information is limited tocredit related information, such as extended credit lines, paymenthistory, and the like. Absent from the credit bureau determination isother meaningful financial information, such as transactionalinformation that assesses a customer's behaviors, for example, checkingtransactions, credit/debit card transactions, Automated Teller Machine(ATM) deposits/withdrawals, cash advances and the like. Also absent fromthe credit bureau determination are information regarding the assets thecustomer has, such as deposit and investment account balances and thelike. In addition to assessing risk when credit is issued, a need existsto assess risks throughout the entire credit lifecycle including, butnot necessarily limited to, credit distribution, repayment of credit andthe like.

Therefore, from a credit risk assessment perspective, a need exists todevelop a system that is not limited to assessing credit-worthinessbased solely on credit information, and in some instances, additionalaccount information. The desired system should provide for assessing acustomer's behavior in terms of their transaction data, across multiplefinancial institutions and multiple products within the financialinstitutions, as well as non-financial institution information, in orderto obtain a comprehensive picture of a customer's transaction history,as well as historical behaviors, in order to accurately assess thecustomer's current behaviors. From a fraud risk perspective, a needexists to monitor and otherwise identify individuals or other entitiesthat are likely to commit fraud across multiple financial products,across multiple channels and across multiple financial institutions, aswell as to identify when customers are being victimized by dishonestindividuals or fraud rings.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodimentsin order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments,and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of allembodiments, nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its solepurpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in asimplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, apparatus,methods, and computer program products for risk management. Moreover,embodiments of the present invention provide for provide for monitoringfinancial institution data from a plurality of financial institutions,including transactional data associated with a plurality of financialinstitution products and financial institution channels, to identify thelikelihood of an identity theft incident and, in specific embodiments,communicate suspicious activity and/or identity theft alerts and/orreports in response to identifying suspicious activity potentially orconfirmed to be associated with identity theft incidents.

An apparatus for risk management provides for embodiments of the presentinvention. The apparatus includes a computing platform including atleast one processor and a memory. The apparatus further includes a riskdatabase stored in the memory and configured to receive financialinstitution data, from a plurality financial institutions. The financialinstitution data includes transaction data associated with a pluralityof financial institution products and a plurality of financialinstitution channels. In addition, the apparatus includes a suspiciousactivity monitoring routine stored in the memory, executable by theprocessor and configured to analytically monitor the financialinstitution data to identify a suspicious activity, potentiallyassociated with an identity theft incident.

In specific embodiments of the apparatus, the risk database is furtherconfigured to receive the financial institution data, including one ormore of customer account data, such as account opening data and accountclosing data; asset data, such as deposit data and investment data;liability data, such as outstanding credit data, credit limit data andcredit payment data; customer data and/or biometric data.

In further specific embodiments of the apparatus, the risk database isfurther configured to receive non-financial institution data from one ormore non-financial institution entities. In such embodiments, thesuspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured toanalytically monitor the non-financial institution data to identifysuspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theftincident. The non-financial institution entities may include, but arenot limited to, merchants, government agencies, telephone serviceproviders or Internet service providers and the like. The non-financialinstitution data may include, but is not limited to, transaction data;product data; channel data; account data; credit data; asset data;device data, such as, Internet Protocol (IP) address, type of device,serial number, device features/specifications and the like; or biometricdata. In still further specific embodiments, the risk database isfurther configured to receive at least a portion of the financialinstitution data and/or at least a portion of the non-financialinstitution data from one or more data aggregators.

In further embodiments of the apparatus, the risk database is furtherconfigured to receive from financial institutions, and in someembodiments from non-financial institutions and/or data aggregators,negative file data. In addition, in some embodiments, the risk databasealso stores risk patterns that have been determined to be correlatedwith suspicious activity and/or identity theft incidents.

In still further embodiments of the apparatus, the suspicious activitymonitoring routine is further configured to receive an identity theftquery from at least one of a financial institution, non-financialinstitution entity or a customer and determine whether a queried one ofa transaction, a behavior, a person or an entity represents a likelyidentity theft incident. In other related embodiments of the apparatus,the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured toreceive an identity validation query from at least one of a financialinstitution, a non-financial institution entity or a customer andvalidate the identity of a person or entity based on the identityvalidation query.

In other embodiments of the apparatus, the suspicious activitymonitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiatecommunication of a suspicious activity and/or identity theft alert basedon an identified suspicious activity or confirmation of an identitytheft incident. In further embodiments of the apparatus, the suspiciousactivity monitoring routine is further configured to generate andinitiate communication of a suspicious activity and/or identity theftreport based on one or more identified suspicious activities potentiallyassociated with identity theft incidents and/or confirmation of anidentity theft incident. In specific embodiments, the suspiciousactivity alert, identity theft alert, suspicious activity report oridentity theft report may be communicated to one or more of financialinstitutions, non-financial institutions or customers.

A method for risk assessment and management provides further embodimentsof the invention. The method includes receiving, at a risk databasestored in computing device memory, financial institution data from aplurality of financial institutions, including transaction dataassociated with a plurality of financial institution products and aplurality of financial institution channels. The method further includesmonitoring, via a computing device processor, the risk database toidentify a suspicious activity potentially associated with an identitytheft incident. Additionally, the method includes initiating, via acomputing device processor, a risk management action in response to asuspicious activity and/or confirmation of an identity theft incident.

In specific embodiments of the method, receiving further includesreceiving the financial institution data, including one or more ofcustomer account data, such as account opening data and account closingdata; asset data, such as deposit data and investment data; liabilitydata, such as outstanding credit data, credit limit data and creditpayment data; customer data; and/or biometric data.

In further specific embodiments of the method, receiving furtherincludes receiving non-financial institution data from one or morenon-financial institution entities and monitoring further includesmonitoring the non-financial institution data to identify suspiciousactivities potentially associated with an identity theft incident. Inrelated embodiments, the non-financial institution entities include oneor more of merchants, government agencies, telephone service providers,Internet service providers. In other related embodiments, thenon-financial institution data, includes at least one of transactiondata, product data, channel data, account data, credit data, asset data,customer data, device data, such as IP address, location-determining(e.g., GPS) data or the like, or biometric data. In still other relatedembodiment of the method, receiving further includes receiving, at therisk database stored in computing device memory, at least a portion ofthe financial institution data and/or at least a portion of thenon-financial institution data from one or more data aggregators.

In further specific embodiments the method further includes receiving anidentity query from at least one of a financial institution, anon-financial institution entity or a customer and determining whether aqueried one of a transaction, a behavior, a person or an entityrepresents a likely identity theft incident. In further specificembodiments the method further includes receiving an identity validationquery from at least one of a financial institution, a non-financialinstitution entity or a customer and validating the identity of a personor entity based on the identity validation query.

In other specific embodiments of the method initiating further includesgenerating and initiating communication of a suspicious activity oridentity theft alert based on an identified suspicious activitypotentially associated with an identity theft incident or confirmed tobe associated with an identity theft incident. In other embodiments ofthe method initiating further includes generating and initiatingcommunication of a suspicious activity report or an identity theftreport based on one or more identified suspicious activities potentiallyassociated with identity theft incidents or confirmed to be associatedwith an identity theft incident. In such embodiments, generating mayfurther include generating and initiating communication of thesuspicious activity alert, identity theft alert and/or the reports toone or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions orcustomers.

In other embodiments the method includes receiving, from one of thecustomer, a financial institution or a non financial institution,confirmation of identity theft based on verification that a customeraccount or identity has been proven compromised. In such embodiments themethod may include, updating the risk database to reflect details of theidentity theft. In some embodiments the method may include communicatingidentity theft confirmation alerts to one or more of predeterminedfinancial institutions or predetermined non financial institutions.

In further embodiments of the method initiating a risk management actionmay further include generating and communicating a suspicious activityalert based on data in a negative file associated with a known customer.In further embodiments of the method, initiating a risk managementaction may further include generating and communicating a suspiciousactivity alert based on one or more deviations from a behavioralbaseline score. In still further embodiments of the invention,initiating a risk management action may further include generating andcommunicating a suspicious activity alert based on risk patternsidentified in a customer profile.

A computer program product including a computer-readable medium definesfurther embodiments of the invention. The computer-readable mediumincludes a first set of codes for causing a computer to receivefinancial institution data from a plurality financial institutions,including transaction data associated with a plurality of financialinstitution products and a plurality of financial institution channels.The computer-readable medium additionally includes a second set of codesfor causing a computer to monitor the risk database to identify alikelihood of a suspicious activity incident. In addition, thecomputer-readable medium includes a third set of codes for causing acomputer to initiate a risk management action in response toidentification of suspicious activity potentially associated with anidentity theft incident.

Thus, further details are provided below for systems, apparatus, methodsand computer program products for monitoring financial institution datafrom a plurality of financial institutions, including transactional dataassociated with multiple financial institution products and channels, toidentify suspicious activities potentially associated with identitytheft incidents and, in specific embodiments, communicate suspiciousactivity alerts and/or identity theft alerts and/or associated reportsin response to suspicious activity or confirmation of an identity theftincident. In further embodiments, the monitored financial institutionmay include one or more, and in some embodiments all of, account data,asset data, liability data, credit data, or biometric data. In addition,in certain embodiments the monitored data may include non-financialinstitution data from one or more non-financial institutions.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreembodiments comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more embodiments. These features are indicative, however,of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of variousembodiments may be employed, and this description is intended to includeall such embodiments and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for collecting customers' personaland financial data across multiple financial products and channels frommultiple financial institutions and non-financial institutions for thepurpose of leveraging the collected data to manage risk, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a concentric circle diagram that illustrates the riskdatabase's ability to receive data on various different levels,aggregate the data at various levels and to assess risk at the variousdifferent levels, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an apparatus configured to providebehavioral baseline scoring, determination of deviations from baselineand alert notification in the event of deviations, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an apparatus configured to provide riskpattern determination and, specifically, new pattern types based on datain the risk database, deviations from baseline, claim data and negativeactivity data, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an apparatus configured to providesuspicious activity monitoring based on asset and liability activity andfinancial institution transaction activity, including deposits andsecurity investments and behavioral/transaction data, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a more detailed block diagram of the system of FIG. 1, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for creating an integrated risk andcustomer data network, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method for risk assessment and management,according to embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some,but not all, embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, theinvention may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicablelegal requirements. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of one or more embodiments. It may be evident,however, that such embodiment(s) may be practiced without these specificdetails. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Various embodiments or features will be presented in terms of systemsthat may include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like.It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems mayinclude additional devices, components, modules, etc. and/or may notinclude all of the devices, components, modules etc. discussed inconnection with the figures. A combination of these approaches may alsobe used.

The steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodieddirectly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, orin a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage mediumknown in the art. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to theprocessor, such that the processor can read information from, and writeinformation to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storagemedium may be integral to the processor. Further, in some embodiments,the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). In the alternative, the processorand the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a computingdevice. Additionally, in some embodiments, the events and/or actions ofa method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set ofcodes and/or instructions on a machine-readable medium and/orcomputer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computerprogram product.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the functionsdescribed may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or anycombination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may bestored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media, including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage medium may be any available media that can be accessed by acomputer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readablemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code inthe form of instructions or data structures, and that can be accessed bya computer. Also, any connection may be termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server,or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twistedpair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber opticcable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared,radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. “Disk”and “disc”, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs usuallyreproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above shouldalso be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

In general, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems,methods and computer program products for collecting customers'financial data from multiple financial institutions, from multipledifferent communication channels, and across multiple financialproducts/services within the financial institutions. The collected dataincludes transactional level data, such as checking transactions, ATMtransactions, and credit/debit card transactions that allow fordetermination of a customer's transactional behaviors. Additionally, thefinancial institution data includes account data, such as balances andthe like, and customer data, such as personal data, demographics dataand the like. In addition, customer related data may be collected fromnon-financial institutions, such as retailers (online and brick &mortar) government agencies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs),telephone companies (Telcos), health care industry entities, and thelike. The non-financial information may provide for additionaltransactional information, such as the type of items purchased and thelike, behavioral data, such as purchasing or browsing behaviors, andcustomer data.

For the purposes of this invention, a “financial institution” is definedas any organization in the business of moving, investing, or lendingmoney, dealing in financial instruments, or providing financialservices. This includes commercial banks, thrifts, federal and statesavings banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, investmentcompanies, insurance companies and the like. A “customer” is defined asan individual or entity having an account or relationship with entitiesimplementing the risk management system, and/or an individual or entityhaving an account or relationship with a financial institution or anon-financial institution supplying data to the entity implementing therisk management system of the present invention. A “counterparty” isdefined as other individuals or entities (excluding the customer)involved in a transaction. A “transaction” can be monetary in nature(e.g., a purchase via a credit card; depositing a check in an account; astock trade or the like) or non-monetary in nature (e.g., a telephonecall; an encounter with a financial institution or non-financialinstitution associate/representative; an identity authenticationprocess, such as a biometric identity authentication process; recordeduse of a utility, such as electricity and the like).

The collected customer data is captured in a comprehensive centralizedrisk database that allows for analytics and/or logic to be performed onthe data for the purpose of leveraging the collected data to determinethe customer's behaviors and/or the customer's likely behaviors tothereby reduce risk.

In addition, according to specific embodiments, the comprehensivecentralized risk database includes negative activity data thatidentifies the individuals or entities, including their demographics,transactions, products/accounts and the like, involved in fraud,criminal activity, defaults and other risky activities that can lead tofinancial loss. For fraud, examples of negative activity data elementsinclude, but are not limited to, the names of fraud perpetrators;information associated with the perpetrators (e.g., aliases, addresses,telephone numbers, IP addresses and the like); information related tofraudulent and other activity across multiple industryproducts/services; identification of activities at the account andtransaction level across both industry-related activities andnon-industry related activities; and the like. Thus, the negativeactivity data is received from financial institutions and, in someembodiments of the invention, from non-financial institutions.

Further, embodiments of the invention leverage the collected data andthe negative activity database for use in analytical analysis thatprovides a holistic view of each customer's financial behavior in orderto manage and reduce risk.

In specific embodiments of the invention, the collected data is used todetermine, for customers, customer segments, counterparties, etc., abehavioral baseline score that provides a holistic assessment of thecustomer's/customer segment's/counterparty's baseline, or normalfinancial behavior, for example, how and where a customer, customersegment or counterparty normally transacts, channels used, transactionamounts, average deposits maintained and the like. Once a behavioralbaseline score has been determined, the score(s) may be communicated todesignated parties. In addition, once a behavioral baseline score hasbeen determined, continuous monitoring of the customer's/customersegment's/counterparty's collected data provides for determination ofdeviations from the baseline. Deviations from the baseline can be bothpositive and negative deviations, negative deviations indicatingpotentially risk inducing behavior and positive deviations indicatingpotentially risk reducing behaviors. In other embodiments, thebehavioral baseline score may indicate that the customer/customersegment/counterparty exhibits risky behavior at their normal level,posing a constant or consistent risk, such as a credit risk, fraud riskor the like, even absent a deviation. In such instances, notificationsand/or alerts may be communicated to designated parties based onabnormal deviations from the population baseline.

Embodiments of the present invention provide the collected data, as wellas the behavioral baseline and risk scores, to financial institutionsand/or non-financial institutions as a risk assessment tool that can beused alone or as an input into their own risk management systems.Examples where financial and non-financial institutions may use thecollected data or the baseline or risk scores include, but are notlimited to, determining whether to authenticate a transaction involvinga particular account or customer, determining whether to issue credit toa particular customer, determining whether to open an account, and/ordetermining whether to conduct or expand business with a customer.

Additional embodiments of the invention provide for determining riskpatterns and, in particular, new types of fraud or other new types ofrisk using the financial institution data, the non-financial institutiondata, the claims data, deviations from customer baselines and thenegative file (e.g., risk activity and interactions) database toidentify behaviors and patterns that are associated with loss due torisk. In related embodiments, the occurrences of risk patterns aremonitored to provide for a health of industry risk indicator, such as arisk health score or the like, which indicates how well an entity, suchas a company, an industry or a segment of the industry, is managingrisk.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention provide fordetermining a risk score for customers, customer segments, customerpopulations, counterparties and the like that is associated with one ormore risk types and is based on risk patterns and the combination(s),severity and frequency of risk patterns in a customer, customer segment,population, or counterparty's behaviors, transactions and networks asidentified by using financial institution transactional data, claimsdata, and asset and liability data. In other embodiments, the risk scoredetermination may take into account non-financial institution data,negative file data and the customer's/customer segment's/counterparty'snetwork for any known high risk indicators. The risk score serves topredict the likelihood that doing business with acustomer/segment/population or counterparty will result in loss due torisk.

Other embodiments of the invention provide for suspicious activitymonitoring that leverages the use of the customer and transactional dataacross multiple financial institutions, multiple products/serviceswithin the financial institution and multiple financial institutionchannels. As such, the suspicious activity monitoring of the presentinvention includes account data, such as account opening and closingdata; asset data, such as deposits and security investments; liabilitydata, such as credit outstanding, payment status, credit limits and thelike; biometric information and other behavior indicators to detectidentity compromise.

Further, embodiments of the present invention provide the collected datato data-analytics providers, such as third-party data-analyticsproviders, so that the data-analytics providers can use the collecteddata when constructing models that model customers' behavior and whendeveloping risk prevention and risk mitigation systems. The third-partydata-analytics providers may develop and/or operate the behavioralbaseline scoring, risk scoring, risk pattern and suspicious activityanalytic models/services. It should be appreciated that a customer canbe any individual or business, or non-business entity.

Also, for example, embodiments of the present invention authenticatewhether an individual is who they say they are. As embodiments of thepresent invention gather financial transactions, demographic, retailer,computing device identification, Telco, biometric data in a singlelocation, embodiments can provide for executing routines thatauthenticate an individual's identity—whether in-person or via phone oronline/mobile. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention providea service whereby subscribers can use the service to authenticateindividuals' identities. The service relies on knowing the customer'sbehaviors and other identifying characteristics about the customer basedon information provided by financial institutions and non-financialinstitutions in combination with information provided by the entityimplementing the risk management system, such as customer identifyinginformation, e.g., social security number, taxpayer identificationnumber, Global Positioning System (GPS), biometrics and the like and/orcustomer demographic information.

Referring to FIG. 1 a block diagram is depicted of a system 10 foraggregating and integrating risk-related data, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. The system 10 includes acomprehensive centralized risk database 100, which is configured tocollect or otherwise receive data across multiple financial products andmultiple channels from multiple financial institutions for the purposeof managing risk related to credit, fraud and the like, in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. The system 10 includes arisk-evaluating module 400 that is configured to monitor or otherwiseprovide risk analysis on transaction data or other data received fromvarious data repositories or databases associated with financialinstitutions, third- party data aggregators, and/or non-financialinstitutions. The risk-evaluating module 400 may be implemented by therisk management entity, such as a financial institution or a dataaggregator, in alternate embodiments, the risk-evaluating module 400 maybe implemented by one or more third-party entities (i.e., procured riskmodeling).

The data in the risk database 100 may be communicated from and tofinancial institutions 20, third-party data aggregators 30 and/ornon-financial institutions via integrated risk and customer data network500. In addition, financial institutions 20, third-party dataaggregators 40 and/or non-financial institutions may access integratedrisk and customer data network 500 to implement the functionality ofrisk-evaluating module 400.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the centralized risk database100 stores financial institution data 200. In additional embodiments,the centralized risk database 100 stores non-financial institution data300. When evaluating customer risk and/or validating customer risk, therisk-evaluating module 400 receives and analyzes any and/or allfinancial institution data 200, and non-financial institution data 300.The data 200 and 300 will now be discussed in more detail.

According to some embodiments, customers' personal and financial data isprovided to the system 10 by financial institutions 20, such as banks,credit-card companies, security investment companies and the like thathold a customer's checking, credit-card, and security investmentaccounts, and that have established financial relationships with theindividual customers. It should be noted that unlike credit bureaus,which limit their inventory to liabilities, the risk database 100, andin particular financial institution data 200, of the present inventionincludes customer assets, as well as liabilities. The data received frommultiple financial institutions is aggregated and stored as financialinstitution data 200, which is in electronic communication with therisk-evaluating module 400.

It should be noted that the various categories of data shown anddescribed in relation to financial institution data 200 andnon-financial institution data 300 may provide for overlap. For example,behavior/transaction data 210 may include product data 220 or channeldata 240 or the like.

The financial institution data 200 may include, but is not limited to,behavior/transaction data 210. According to some embodiments,behavior/transaction data 210 includes data related to financialinstitution transactions, both inflow transactions (e.g., deposits) andoutflow transactions (e.g., withdrawals) such as savings/checkingaccount transactions; Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions; debitcard transactions; credit card transactions; mortgage loan transactions;other loan transactions, such as home equity loan transactions;investment transactions (e.g., sale or purchase of an investmentvehicle) and the like.

The behavior/transaction data 210 also includes, according to someembodiments, credit card/debit card transaction data that includes datarelated to credit card or debit card purchases and payments, includingdate/time of purchases and store names and locations of where thepurchases took place. In some embodiments of the invention, transactiondata includes pre-purchase authorization requests that may be processedin advance of a payment transaction for certain types of purchases, suchas, but not limited to, hotel and pay-at-the-pump gas debit card andcredit card transactions.

Additionally, the behavior/transaction data 210 includes, for example,online-banking data that includes transaction data related to any onlineservice, including but not limited to, bill pay transactions,electronic/online security trades, mobile transactions and the like. Theonline banking data may additionally include indications as to how oftenand when an online account is accessed, indications of erroneousattempts at accessing an online account, indications of simultaneousduplicate requests to access an online account and any other means ofcompromising the online banking account.

Behavior data may include any other data captured by the financialinstitution related to a customer behavior. For example, behavior datamay be associated with a financial institution interaction that may nothave risen to the transaction level, such as initiating but notcompleting an online transaction, an e-commerce transaction, an ATMtransaction or a call center transaction or the like. In addition,behavior data may include statistical data surrounding transactions. Forexample, the frequency and times customers make calls to call centers,ATM transactions, e-commerce transactions, online transactions and thelike. For the purposes of this invention, transaction data is defined toinclude behavior data.

In addition, behavior/transaction data 210 includes e-commerce data thatincludes transaction data related to purchases of products or servicesmade electronically, such as via a financial institution website or thelike.

The financial institution data 200 may also include product data 220that indicates the financial institution product associated with thecustomer behavior and/or customer transaction. Financial institutionproducts may include, but are not limited to, a checking account, asavings account, a debit card/account, a credit card/account, aninvestment product/account or the like. As previously noted, part or allof the product data 220 may be included in the behavior/transaction data210 or the risk database may be configured to implement a separate filefor the product data 220.

The financial institution data 200 may also include account data 230that indicates the customer's financial institution account associatedwith the customer's behavior/transaction. Financial institution accountsmay include, but are not limited to, checking accounts, savingsaccounts, credit card accounts, debit card accounts, credit accounts,loan accounts, investment accounts and the like. Account data 230 mayadditionally include account/status data, such as open, new, closed,suspended, balances, over charges, freezes, investment account balances,loan credit outstanding, credit limits, past due/defaults, and the like.

As previously noted, part or all of the account data 230 may be includedin the behavior/transaction data 210 and/or product data 220 or the riskdatabase may be configured to implement a separate file for the accountdata 230.

In addition, the financial institution data 200 may also include channeldata 240 that indicates the source of the customer behavior/transaction.Financial institution channels may include, but are not limited to, thefinancial institution retail outlet, electronically (e.g., directdeposit or bill pay), online/mobile or via a call center, or that atransaction occurred at a retail location, online or by phone. Aspreviously noted, part or all of the channel data 240 may be included inthe behavior/transaction data 210 or the risk database may be configuredto implement a separate file for the channel data 240. Additionally, thechannel data 240 may include call center data that may includetransaction data from a plurality of call centers across a plurality offinancial institutions. Also, the channel data 240 may include ATM datathat includes transaction data from a plurality of ATMs across aplurality of financial institutions. The ATM data may include thefrequency and times customers use ATMs, as well as the nature of the ATMtransaction.

Moreover, the financial institution data 200 may include asset andliability data 250. The asset data may include, but is not limited to,deposit and investment status information; investment and depositbalances, investment values, equity value of real estate, indications ofliquidity (e.g., CD maturity dates) and the like. The liability data mayinclude credit outstanding, credit limits, payment status data, payoffdates and the like.

In addition, the financial institution data 200 may include customerdata 260 that indicates personal data, demographics data and any othercustomer data associated with accounts or products. Customer data 260may additionally include scores derived from the data in the riskdatabase 100, such as behavioral baseline and risk scores and the like.It may also include any risk indicators from data collected in theaccount data 230 or negative file data 270 regarding a customer or theirrelated information (e.g., number of overspent costs over a time period,bad address, and the like). As previously noted, part or all of thecustomer data 260 may be included in the the risk database may beconfigured to implement a separate file for the customer data 260.

Further, according to specific embodiments, the financial institutiondata 200 may include negative file data 270 which includes identifyingdata related to historical/known risk activities. In specificembodiments, the financial institution negative file data 270 may befinancial industry-wide negative file data or the like. Thus, thenegative file data 270 may be received from multiple financialinstitutions 20 or from third-party data aggregators 30. It should benoted that in specific embodiments negative file data 270 may bereceived from entities that are not otherwise contributors to the riskdatabase 100. Additionally, negative file data 270 includes, but is notlimited to, fraudulent or other risk activity related to multipleproducts and/or services and multiple channels for delivering theproducts/services.

The negative file data 270 provides for multiple financial institutionsand in some specific embodiments of the invention, all financialinstitutions, and in some embodiments, nonfinancial institutions toaccess the negative file data 270 for purposes of determining historicalrisk activities and information related to the activities. In someembodiments of the invention, the negative file is used to determine theaccuracy of information provided to the entity by a customer. Thenegative file data 270 may subsequently be used to determine riskpatterns, monitor suspicious activity and/or other risk relatedactivities. The negative file data 270 may include, but is not limitedto, the name(s) of the high risk individuals and entities (e.g., fraudperpetrators, criminals, rings, suspected terrorists, money launderers,criminal watch lists, defaulters, companies having filed liquidationcompanies with debt status below investment grade and the like),addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, IP addresses,device identifiers/prints, such as Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)number or the like, biometric data, such as fingerprint data, voice dataor the like, associated with the perpetrators and the like. The negativefile may also indicate if these data elements belong or are associatedwith the perpetrator(s), or have been illegitimately used by theperpetrator(s). Additionally, negative file data 270 may includesuspicious account data, otherwise referred to as compromised-accountdata, which includes counterfeited accounts, data related to computersecurity violators (i.e., hackers) or the like. Additionally, accordingto some embodiments, the suspicious- account data includes data relatedto fraudulent telephone calls and/or a counter-fraud intelligenceplatform that provides information related to viruses, trojans, malwareand the like. In addition, the negative file data 270 may, in someembodiments, include information regarding defaults, liquidations andthe like.

The negative file data 270 may, in specific embodiments, include mineddata obtained from financial institutions that is used to identifysuspicious activity or items, such as accounts, applications or thelike, linked to elements within the negative file data 270. Once thelinked items have been identified, the financial institutions ornon-financial institutions may be electronically notified or otherwisealerted. For example, if an existing customer's phone number has beenused in a fraud scam, the financial institutions that have the customerand phone number on record in the risk database 100 would receive analert that the phone number had been used fraudulently.

The financial institution data 200 may additionally include counterpartydata 280. A “counterparty” is defined herein as the parties involved ina transaction with the customer. Counterparty data 280 may include, butis not limited to, data related to customer transactions that isspecific to the counterparty and is not typically reported to thefinancial institution, such as items/services provided in thetransaction and the like. Additionally, counterparty data 280 includesidentifying characteristics of the counterparties such as name,location, merchant number, parent company and the like. In someembodiments, this file contains the list of payment processors and themerchants they service. Additionally, in some embodiments, thecounterparty data 280 is augmented with data regarding the counterpartythat can be obtained from the customer data 260 and/or 360 as well asclaims data 290 and/or 390. In other instances, the customer data 260,360 or the claims data 290, 390 may be augmented with data regarding thecounterparty from the counterparty data 380. Additionally, counterpartydata 280 may include overall statistics associated with the counterpartythat are relevant to risk determination.

The financial institution data 200 may also include claims data 290 thatincludes fraud and non-fraud claims made by the customer or thecounterparty. The claims data 290 is across multiple financialinstitution products, multiple financial institution channels andmultiple different financial institutions. The claims data 290 may beimplemented in conjunction with behavior/transaction data 210 for riskdetection, such as mass compromises, merchant customers whoseprofitability is compromised by high claim rates or the like.

According to some embodiments, third-party data aggregators 30 mayprovide data to the risk database 100. Third-party data aggregators 30are organizations that collect data from multiple institutions, bothfinancial institutions and non-financial institutions, and then organizeand resell the collected data. The data aggregator data may, in someembodiments, be used to supplement data provided by financialinstitutions as a means of further understanding the customer and thecustomer's behaviors. The data provided by third-party data aggregators30 may, according to specific embodiments, be collected, tagged orotherwise identified within the risk database 100 based on the dataaggregator source and stored with associated customer data, associatedaccount data and/or in one or more distinct data aggregator files. Dataaggregators are often used as an efficient means of collecting data. Inother embodiments of the invention, data aggregators may be used for thevalue-added insights or analytics provided. This modeled data can beused in addition to data collected by financial institutions andnon-financial institutions (e.g., credit bureau data including FICOscores, commercial segmentation scores) or to fill gaps possibly causedby lack of participation by one or more financial or non-financialinstitutions (e.g., customer segmentation and marketing data oninvestible assets).

According to some embodiments, the third-party data aggregators 30 areConsumer Reporting Agencies (“CRAs”), otherwise referred to as creditreporting agencies, or the like. Typically, CRAs collect personal andliability information about individual consumers, generate creditreports to indicate the creditworthiness of individual consumers, andoffer these credit reports to prospective creditors. More specifically,CRAs collect personal and financial information about individualconsumers from a variety of sources called data furnishers. These datafurnishers are typically institutions that have had financialrelationships with individual consumers. For example, data furnishersmay be creditors, lenders, utility companies, debt collection agencies,government agencies, and courts. Data furnishers report data regardingindividual consumers to CRAs, and, based on the received data, CRAsgenerate a credit report for each individual consumer. A typical creditreport contains detailed information about an individual consumer'scredit history, including credit accounts and loans, bankruptcies, latepayments, and recent inquiries. These credit reports also contain acredit score, which is a measure of credit risk calculated using theinformation provided in the credit report.

According to some embodiments, non-financial institutions 40, such asmerchants, retailers, utility companies, social networks, governmentagencies and the like provide non-financial institution data 300 to therisk database 100. The data received from non-financial institutions 40may, in some embodiments, be collected and stored as non-financialinstitution data 300, which is distinct from the financial institutiondata 200, is in electronic communication with the risk-evaluating module400. The non-financial institution data 300 further includes customeridentification data and provides insight into customer behaviors andinteractions.

In some embodiments, non-financial institution data 300 includesbehavior/transaction data 310. According to some embodiments,behavior/transaction data 310 includes data related to financialtransactions, such as non-financial institution credit accounttransactions; Point-Of-Sale (POS) transactions and the like. The datamay include, but is not limited to, details of the purchase (e.g.,amount of electricity consumed, detailed POS receipt listing itemspurchased and the like), date/time of purchases/usages and seller'snames and locations of where the purchases took place.

Additionally, the behavior/transaction data 310 includes, for example,online-non-financial data that includes transaction data related to anyonline transactions and the like.

In addition, behavior/transaction data 310 includes e-commerce data thatincludes transaction data related to purchases of products or servicesmade electronically, such as via a merchant website or the like. Inaddition, behavior/transaction data 310 may include behavior data. Inthis regard, retailers, in particular, online retailers, such as RetailStore A_search engines or the like, collect and may provide purchasebehavior and browsing data, which may include browsing data related topurchases or interaction with the online site. In addition, telephonecompanies may provide transaction in the form of telephone call data,e.g., to whom calls were made, from whom calls were received, length ofcalls, location-determining data, calling patterns and the like. Datafrom Telcos and, alternatively Post Offices enable verification ofactive and/or credible telephone numbers and/or addresses.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs), search engines and social networksmay provide behavior/transaction data 310, in the form of browsinghistory, contact/friend lists, email behavior, purchase transactiondata, including applications purchased and/or used, download data andthe like. Additionally, behavior/transaction data 310 may include healthcare industry data, such as, but not limited to, health care records,Medicaid claims, and the like.

The non-financial institution data 300 may also include product data 320that indicates the non-financial product associated with the customerbehavior and/or customer transaction. Non-financial institution productsmay include, but are not limited to, email service, wireline phoneservice, electricity, home improvement products, online books or thelike. As previously noted, part or all of the product data 320 may beincluded in the behavior/transaction data 310 or the risk database maybe configured to implement a separate file for the product data 320. Thenon-financial institution data 300 may also include account data 330that indicates the customer's non-financial institution accountassociated with the customer's behavior/transaction. Non-financialinstitution accounts may include, but are not limited to, a specifictelephone number, an email address, a subscription, a grocerymembership/rewards card, layaway account or the like. In some instances,the non-financial institution accounts may be financial accounts, suchas a merchant credit card account or the like. In specific embodimentsof the invention, the account data file includes account status, suchas: open, new, closed, suspended, in default, balance, limit and thelike. As previously noted, part or all of the account data 330 may beincluded in the behavior/transaction data 310, the product data 320, orthe risk database may be configured to implement a separate file for theaccount data 330.

In addition, the non-financial institution data 300 may also includechannel data 340 that indicates the source of the customerbehavior/transaction. Non-financial institution channels may include,but are not limited to, the non-financial institution retail outlet,online/mobile or via a call center. As previously noted, part or all ofthe channel data 340 may be included in the behavior/transaction data310 or the risk database may be configured to implement a separate filefor the channel data 340.

Moreover, the non-financial institution data 300 may include asset andliability data 350. The asset data may include, but is not limited to,deposit balances, credit balances on accounts, devices owned (e.g.,cellular telephone(s)) and the like. The liability data may includecredit outstanding, credit limits, payment status data, layawaybalances, claims and the like.

In addition, the non-financial institution data 300 may include customerdata 360 that indicates customer name, personal data, demographics dataand any other customer data associated with accounts or products.Customer data 360 may additionally include scores derived from the datain the risk database 100, such as baseline and risk scores and the like.It may also include any risk indicators from data collected in theaccount data 230, 330 or negative file data 270, 370 regarding acustomer or their associated information (e.g., late payment data, badaddresses or the like).

Further, according to specific embodiments, the non-financialinstitution data 300 may include negative file data 370 which includesidentifying data related to historical/known fraud, default or otherhigh risk activities. In specific embodiments, the non-financialinstitution negative file data 370 may be multi-industry negative filedata or the like. Thus, the negative file data 370 may be received frommultiple non-financial institutions 40 or from third-party dataaggregators 30. It should be noted that in specific embodiments,negative file data 370 may be received from entities that are nototherwise contributors to the risk database 100. Additionally, negativefile data 370 includes, but is not limited to, fraudulent activityrelated to multiple products and/or services and multiple communicationchannels for delivering the products/services. The negative file data370 may include, but is not limited to, the name(s) of the high riskindividuals and entities (e.g., fraud perpetrators, criminals, rings,suspected terrorist, money launderers, criminal watch lists, defaulters,entities filing liquidation-proceedings, entities with debt status belowinvestment grade and the like), addresses, telephone numbers, socialsecurity numbers, IP addresses, device identifiers/prints, such asSubscriber Identity Module (SIM) number or the like, biometric data,such as fingerprint data, voice data or the like associated with thefraud perpetrators and the like. The negative file data 370 may alsoindicate if these data elements belong or are associated with aperpetrator(s) or have been illegitimately used by the perpetrator.Additionally, negative file data 370 may include suspicious accountdata, otherwise referred to as compromised-account data, which includesdata related to computer security violators (i.e., hackers),counterfeited accounts or the like. Additionally, according to someembodiments, the suspicious-account data includes data related tofraudulent telephone calls and/or a counter-fraud the like, whichtargets financial institution customers. According to some embodiments,this may include derogatory files from government agencies, includingliens, tax defaults, insurance/Medicare fraud, criminal histories andthe like. In addition, the negative file data 370 may, in someembodiments, include information regarding defaults, liquidations andthe like.

The non-financial institution data 300 may additionally includecounterparty data 380. A “counterparty” is defined herein as the partiesthat are involved in the transaction with non-financial institutioncustomer(s), such as a seller, buyer, caller, network transmitting thecall, emailer, social network friend and the like. Counterparty data 380may include, but is not limited to, data related to customertransactions or interactions that are specific to the counterparty.Additionally, counterparty data includes identifying characteristics ofthe counterparties such as, but not limited to, name, location, merchantnumber, parent company and the like. In some embodiments of theinvention, the counterparty data 380 is augmented with data regardingthe counterparty that can be obtained from the customer data 260, 360 aswell as claims data 290, 390. Additionally, counterparty data 380 mayinclude overall statistics associated with the counterparty that arerelevant to risk determination.

The non-financial institution data 300 may also include claims data 390that includes fraud and non-fraud claims made by the customer or thecounterparty. The claims data 390 is across multiple non-financialinstitution products, multiple non-financial institution channels andmultiple different non-financial institution entities.

In some embodiments of risk database 100, financial institution data 200and non-financial institution data 300 are combined in one database. Inthese embodiments, data may be organized by customer, transaction,accounts, products or the like, regardless of whether it was sourcedfrom a financial institution or a non-financial institution. In otherembodiments, data may not be sourced at product or channel levels, but aproduct or channel may be derived from at least one of thebehavior/transaction data 210, 310, account data 230, 330, asset andliability data 250, 350 and/or customer data 260, 360. In otherembodiments, the data is stored by supplier and then combined as neededfor analytic purposes.

Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic diagram 70 is shown in which concentriccircles represent the various levels of information received fromfinancial and non-financial institutions and processed by thecentralized risk database, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. At the first level, represented by the innermost circle, thecentralized risk database receives transaction/behavior level data 72.For financial institutions, transaction data may include, but are notlimited to, payments/purchases with external entities, such asretailers/merchants or the like; deposits; withdrawals; transfers;advances; payments; and the like, made internally within the financialinstitution. Transaction data identifies the entities which the customeris transacting with. Aggregating transaction/behavior level data 72results in account/product/channel level data 74. Aggregation ofaccounts can also result in product data.

At the second level, represented by the second innermost circle, thecentralized risk database receives account/product/channel level data74. For financial institutions, accounts may include, but are notlimited to, checking accounts, savings accounts, loan accounts,investment accounts and the like. Products may include, but are notlimited to, checking products, credit card products, debit cardproducts, loan products, online services, telephone services and thelike. Channels may include, but are not limited to, retail locations,ATMs, kiosks, call centers, online/websites, including mobileapplications and the like. Aggregating transaction/behavior level data72 across accounts, products, or channels (i.e., account/product/channellevel data 74) results in customer/client level data 76.

At the third level, represented by the third innermost circle, thecentralized risk database receives customer/client level data 76. Aspreviously noted, a customer includes consumer customers, individuals orjoint parties, and business or corporate customers. Aggregatingcustomer/client level data 76 across a given characteristic results innetwork/segment/industry level data 78.

At the fourth level, represented by the second outermost circle, thecentralized risk database receives network/segment/industry level data78. The network data may be reflected by one or more inter-dependenciesor interactions, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange orother relationships/memberships based upon common interest, commondislike, common beliefs, knowledge or prestige to which a plurality ofcustomers or clients belong. Segment data may be reflected by one ormore common characteristics shared by customers or clients. Industrydata may be reflected by all of the data within an industry associatedwith a group of clients. Aggregating customer/client level data 76across similar characteristics, such as behaviors, geographic locations,interactions, industries or the like results in network/segment/industrylevel data 78.

At the fifth level, represented by the outermost circle, the centralizeddatabase receives population level data 80. The population data reflectsthe overall population of customers or clients. Aggregatingnetwork/segment/industry level data 78 results in population level data80.

FIG. 3 depicts an apparatus 12 configured to provide customer-specificbehavioral baseline scoring, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. Baseline determination takes into account variousindividual behaviors in determining what is “normal” or a baseline forthe individual in terms of risk. In the financial area, baselines can bedeveloped around payment behaviors, average deposit behaviors, channelbehaviors and the like. In non-financial areas, baselines can includecalling patterns, purchase behaviors, web surfing behaviors, travelpatterns and the like. Changes in behaviors can represent a potentialfor risk. Institutions that identify or are alerted to a deviation fromthe normal behavior may choose to deny a transaction or flag it forfurther evaluation or investigation. Such behavioral baseline scoringtakes into account individual-by-individual variances in risk. For somebehavioral baseline scores, if the score exceeds a predeterminedbaseline threshold and/or deviations from the baseline occur thecustomer may be deemed an increased risk.

The apparatus 12 includes a computing platform 14 having a memory 17 andat least one processor 19 that is communication with the memory 17. Thememory 17 stores customer/segment/counterparty identifying logic/routine105 that is configured to uniquely identify a customer 18, or customerswithin a customer segment 22, or a counterparty 21 (i.e., parties withwhom a customer transacts or interacts with) from within the datareceived by the centralized risk database 100 for the purpose ofsubsequently determining behavioral baseline scoring 16, 23 and 25 andrisk scoring 26, 27 and 29 (shown in FIG. 4) for the customer, thecustomer segment, or the counterparty. Counterparty behavioral baselinescoring provides an indication of how the counterparty behaves incertain transactions. An example of a counterparty behavioral baselinescore that would be monitored for risk purposes is merchant fraud claimrates. If a merchant's fraud rates increase, it may indicate that themerchant has been compromised.

The memory 17 additionally stores behavioral baseline scoringlogic/routine 106, which is configured to determine customer behavioralbaseline scores 16 for a plurality of customers 18; and/or segmentbehavioral baseline scores 23 for a population/customer segment 22,which indicates how the segment of customers normally behaves from abehavioral perspective; and/or counterparty behavioral baseline scores25 for a counterparty 21, which indicates how the counterparty normallybehaves from a behavioral perspective. The customer behavioral baselinescore 16, the segment behavioral baseline score 23 and the counterpartybehavioral baseline score 25 define the normal behavior for the customeror the segment of customers or counterparty.

In specific embodiments, the customer behavior baseline score 16, thesegment behavioral baseline score 23 and the counterparty behavioralbaseline score 25 are based on financial institution data 200 and/ornon-financial institution data 300 stored in the centralized riskdatabase 100 (shown in FIG. 1) such as, but not limited to, individualcheck transactions, debit transactions, ACH transactions, bill paytransactions, or credit card transactions. In addition, negative filedata 270, 370 and/or asset and liability data 250, 350 (shown in FIG. 1)may be utilized to determine the baseline risk scores 16, 23 and 25.Additionally, the customer behavioral baseline score 16, the segmentbehavioral baseline score 23 and the counterparty behavioral baselinescore 25 may be based on non-financial institution data 300, such asretailer data, utility data or the like.

As such, behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106 accesses data,such as financial institution data 200 and/or non-financial institutiondata 300 or the like to determine the customer behavioral baseline score16, the segment behavioral baseline score 23 and the counterpartybehavioral baseline score 25. For example, the behavioralbaseline-scoring logic/routine 106, when calculating a customerbehavioral baseline score 16, a segment behavioral baseline score 23,and/or a counterparty behavioral baseline score 25 considers, for eachcustomer, how often and when the customer: uses an ATM; calls a callcenter; visits a branch location; accesses online banking; writes acheck; uses a debit card; uses a credit card; makes a deposit; etc. Inaddition to frequency information, the behavioral baseline scoringlogic/routine 106 may consider the amounts of transactions; location ofbehaviors; channels and products used; asset and liability balancesmaintained and the like. The behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine106 then calculates a behavioral baseline score that represents thoseconsiderations and defines what is “normal” or baseline for thatparticular customer 18, customer segment 22 or counterparty 21.

It should also be noted that multiple behavioral baseline scores 16 canbe determined for a customer 18, multiple segment behavioral baselinescores 23 can be determined for the associated customer segment 22and/or multiple counterparty behavioral baseline scores 25 can bedetermined for the associated counterparty 21. This is becausebehavioral baseline scores are behavioral-based; meaning that baselinescores are associated with one or more behaviors, characteristics,traits or the like associated with the customer, segment orcounterparty. As such, multiple customer behavioral baseline scores 16and/or multiple segment behavioral baseline scores 23 and/or multiplecounterparty behavioral baseline scores 25 aid in better understandingthe behavior of the customer or segment. For example, a behavioralbaseline score may be associated with the locations where the customeror segment interacts/transacts and/or persons/entities that the customeror segment transacts with. A further example includes customerbehavioral baseline scores and/or segment scores and/or counterpartyscores associated with customer deposits and/or withdrawals. Suchdeposit-associated and/or withdrawal-associated scores provide insightinto changes in income; whether the customer is liquidating assets,overdrawing across multiple financial institutions and the like.Further, a comprehensive or overall behavioral baseline score may bedetermined for a customer 18, a customer segment 22, or a counterparty21 that takes into account all of the customer's/customersegment's/counterparty's behaviors, characteristics, traits and thelike.

Additionally, behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106 isconfigured to determine baseline deviations 31 from the customerbehavioral baseline scores 16 and/or segment behavioral baseline scores23 and/or counterparty behavioral baseline scores 25. According tospecific embodiments, baseline deviations 31 may be configured to bebased on a single event/transaction, or a series or combination ofevents/transactions. For example, a withdrawal in excess of a baselinewithdrawal amount for the particular individual/customer may define abaseline deviation 31, or a certain number of withdrawals, in excess tothe individual/customer's baseline number of withdrawals, over adesignated period, may constitute a baseline deviation 31. In addition,in certain embodiments, in order to ensure that timely correctiveactions occur, the events/transactions associated with a behavioralbaseline deviation may be determined and reported to the behavioralbaseline scoring logic/routine 106 in real-time or near-real-time to theoccurrence of the deviation; and/or in periodic batch file processing.It should also be noted that deviations may include negative deviations,i.e., deviations that increase risk and negatively impact the behavioralbaseline scores 16, 23 and 25 and positive deviations, i.e., deviationsthat decrease risk and positively impact the behavioral baseline scores16, 23 and 25.

Additionally, apparatus 12 includes a communication capability 113 thatis configured to communicate risk scores (shown in FIG. 4) andbehavioral baseline scores to financial institutions, non-financialinstitutions, customers and counterparties. In some embodiments, thecustomer or counterparty must indicate consent to have their risk scoresor behavioral baseline scores shared with another entity. Thecommunications capability 113 is configured to communicate these scoresto financial institutions and non-financial institutions upon receivingrequests and meeting other predefined requirements for obtaining receiptof this information. The communications capability 113 may further beconfigured to provide periodic updates of these scores to customers,counterparties, financial institutions and non-financial institutions.In specific embodiments of the invention, the updates may be sent inparallel, so that all entities receive updates at the same time, or theupdates may be sent at different times.

Additionally, the communications capability 113 includes risk alertlogic/routine 114 that is configured to automatically generate andinitiate communication of risk score alerts 28 to predetermined entitiesupon determination of a predefined threshold, or changes in customerrisk score 26 (shown in FIG. 4) or the like. Additionally, in otherspecific embodiments, risk alert logic/routine 114 is configured togenerate and initiate communication of risk score deviation alerts 33 topredetermined entities upon determination of a predefined deviationthreshold or occurrence of a predefined deviation event or combinationof events. The risk score alerts 28 and/or risk score deviation alerts33 may be configured to be communicated to the business, such as thefinancial institution, industry-wide, such as to all financialinstitutions, to the customer/client, to retailers, government agenciesor the like. In certain embodiments of the invention, the risk scorealerts 28 and risk score deviation alerts 33 may be communicated tobusinesses, financial institutions and non-financial institutions thathave an active relationship with the customer and may, in someembodiments, require the business to subscribe to an alert service.Additionally, the risk alert logic/routine 114 may be configured tocommunicate the alert to a designated entity based on the type ofdeviation or the level of deviation, e.g., certain deviations will beconfigured to send alerts to the business, while other deviations,typically more severe deviations, will be configured to be sent to thosewho have a business relationship with the customer/segment/counterparty,specific businesses within an industry, industry-wide and/or togovernment agencies. In this regard, the risk score deviation alert 33may notify an entity of a negative deviation and/or a positive deviationand the risk score alert 28 may notify the entity of an increase ordecrease in the risk score 26, 27 or 29.

In addition, the communications capability 113 stores third-party querylogic/routine 115 that is configured to provide for receipt ofthird-party deviation queries 35, which allow for a third-party, such asa financial institution or non-financial institution, e.g., a merchantor the like, to access system 10, and specifically access third-partyquery logic/routine 115 to determine if an event/behavior associatedwith a customer is a deviation from the norm (i.e., a deviation from thecustomer's baseline score or the like). Based on the determination, aquery response 37 is communicated to the third-party, which serves tonotify the third-party of the verification/non-verification of thedeviation. In addition, the third-party query logic/routine 115 may beconfigured to receive baseline score queries 39 and/or risk scorequeries 41, from customers, counterparties, financial institutions, ornon-financial institutions, which, in response, return a query response37 that includes the requested baseline score 16, 23 or 25 or requestedrisk score 26, 27 or 29. In some embodiments of the invention, athird-party request for a baseline score or a risk score initiatesperiodic transmissions of those scores to the third-party (e.g., requesta score at account opening and receive monthly updates). In otherembodiments, the third-party query logic/routine 115 is configured toreceive customer profile queries 43, which are configured to cause theprocessor 19 to query the customer data files 260 and 360 and thenegative file data 270 and 370 to confirm a customer's personalinformation and other customer criteria is legitimate and up-to-date.

In additional embodiments, communications capability 113 may beconfigured to communicate notification of updates to negative file data270 and/or 370 to predetermined entities upon determination of anegative file update. In still further additional embodiments, thecommunications capability 113 may be configured to communicatenotification of suspicious activity to predetermined entities.Suspicious activity may include, but is not limited to, when acustomer's personal data and/or financial data appear within negativefile data 270 or 370 (e.g., their telephone number); when there is adeviation in the customer's risk score 26; accounts are opened or closedin the customer's name at financial or non-financial institutions asrecorded in account data 230 and 330; biometric data provided does notmatch biometrics on file for the customer 18; and the like.

In some embodiments of the invention, the customer or counterparty maybe required to indicate consent to have their risk scores or behavioralbaseline scores shared with a third-party. Additionally, in otherembodiments of the invention, the third-party may be required todemonstrate that they meet the requirements for obtaining these scoresbased upon legal and regulatory requirements. In other embodiments ofthe invention, the third-party may be required to demonstrate that theyhave met the predefined requirements established by the company (orcompanies) managing the risk database 100, the behavioral baselinescores 16, 23 or 25, behavioral baseline deviation 31, the risk scores26, 27 or 29, the risk alert logic/routine 114 and or the third-partyquery logic/routine 115.

The risk alert logic/routine 114 and the third-party query logic/routine115 may be configured to communicate the alerts 28 or 33 or the queryresponse 37 via a chosen communication channel, such as letter, email,Short Message Service (SMS)/text, voicemail or the like. Since mostqueries and alerts will be communicated to businesses, financialinstitutions and non-financial institutions, in many instances thequeries and/or alerts will be configured to be communicatedelectronically either in real-time, near-real-time or periodic batchfiles to the business' system, database or the like. Thesebusiness-to-business communications can include one or multiple queriesand/or alerts pertaining to one or multiple customers, segments orcounterparties.

FIG. 4 illustrates an apparatus 12 configured for risk scoring and riskpattern analysis, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. The apparatus includes a computing platform 14 having amemory 17 and at least one processor 19 in communication with the memory17. The memory 17 of apparatus 12 includes risk pattern analysislogic/routine 118 that is configured to analytically identify andmonitor and risk pattern data 34 including known risk patterns 36, suchas known frauds or the like and new emerging risk patterns 38, such asnew emerging types of risk or the like. A risk pattern identifies one ormore data elements that is statistically linked to loss due to aspecific risk type (e.g., fraud, credit, money laundering, etc.). Riskpatterns are identified and monitored based on any combination offinancial institution data 200 and/or non-financial institution data300. In specific embodiments of the invention, transaction/behavior data210, and/or 310; claims data 290 and/or 390 and/or negative file data270 and/or 370 may be integral in identifying known and/or emerging riskpatterns, although any data in risk database 100, alone or incombination may be used to identify known and/or emerging risk patterns.Additionally, according to specific embodiments, risk pattern analysislogic/routine 118 relies on behavioral baseline deviation data 31,typically in conjunction with other data, such as negative file data 270and/or 370 (shown in FIG. 3) or the like to identify and monitor riskpatterns and, in specific embodiments, identify areas of high levels ofloss due to specific risk type.

In certain embodiments of the invention, when new/emerging risk patterns38 are identified, the probability to manage these new risks are alsoidentified and shared with various businesses who are customers of therisk pattern data 34 or the risk database 100. Additionally, in someembodiments, the emerging risk pattern 38 may provide one or all of thefollowing: probability of incurring a gross or net loss associated withnew/emerging risk; means to identify the risk pattern and/orrecommendations regarding how to prevent transactions or combinations ofbehaviors/transactions associated with the risk (vs. flagging them forfurther evaluation). The communication of these new or emerging riskpatterns 38 to the appropriate financial and non-financial institutionsmay be managed via communications capability 113 (shown in FIG. 3). Insome embodiments, new/emerging risk patterns 38 are also communicated tothe risk score logic/routine 108, initiating an update of customer,segment/population, and counterparty risk scores 26, 27, and 29. Inaddition, once a new/emerging risk pattern 38 is identified, thecorresponding known risk file is updated to reflect the new/emergingrisk pattern 38.

Additionally, the memory 17 of apparatus 12 stores risk scorelogic/routine 108 that is configured to determine a customer risk score26 for customers 18, a segment risk score 27 for customer segment 22and/or a counterparty risk score 29 for counterparties 19. The customerrisk score and/or segment risk score and/or counterparty score providesan indication of the likelihood that the customer, the segment ofcustomers or the counterparty represents a risk that is likely to resultin a financial loss, such as likelihood to default, perpetrate a fraudin the future or the likelihood that the counterparty, customer orsegment is susceptible to fraud or default in the future. According tospecific embodiments, the customer risk score 26 or segment risk score27 or counterparty risk score 29 may be based off of risk patternsdetermined from financial institution data 200, such as, but not limitedto, behavior/transaction data 210 (shown in FIG. 1), asset and liabilitydata 250 (shown in FIG. 1), negative file data 270 (shown in FIG. 1) andthe like. As previously discussed, the risk pattern analysislogic/routine 118 may be implemented to identify incidences of knownrisk patterns 36 in a customer's, segment's or counterparty's profilethat correlate to loss. In some embodiments, the risk scorelogic/routine 108 weighs the incidences of risk patterns based upon thefrequency, mix and probability of loss associated with the individualrisk patterns and the combination of risk patterns in a customer's,segment's or counterparty's profile. In alternate embodiments, thecustomer risk score 26 or segment risk score 27 or counterparty riskscore 29 may be additionally based on risk patterns based off ofnon-financial institution data 300, such as, but not limited to,behavior/transaction data 310 (shown in FIG. 1), asset and liabilitydata 350 (shown in FIG. 1), negative file data 370 (shown in FIG. 1) andthe like. In specific embodiments of the invention, negative file data270 and/or 370 are implemented in risk scoring to incorporate history ofrisk and any negatives associated with customer data 260 and/or 360(shown in FIG. 1) (e.g., incorrect telephone number, high risk zip codeor the like).

The customer and counterparty risk scores 26, 29, when compared tosegment risk scores 27, can tell a company whether a customer representsan average, above average or below average risk of loss. In someembodiments, the score may include patterns related to the ability todetect a risky transaction, or combination of transactions, or traits inprocess, which if detected could prevent or mitigate the risk event. Insome embodiments, the segment risk score 27 provides for identifyinglocations, zip codes, merchants and the like that have above averagerisk (e.g., default, fraud, etc.) rates.

Optionally, memory 17 of apparatus 12 may store risk healthlogic/routine 120 that is configured to determine a company risk healthindicator 41, industry-wide risk health indicator 42 and/or sector riskhealth indicator 44 for a sector of an industry, examples of sectorsinclude specific businesses within the industry (e.g., luxury autosector of the auto industry). The risk health indicator, which may beconfigured as a score or the like, provides an indication of how wellthe industry, sector of the industry or company is managing risk, suchas fraud, credit, money laundering or the like or, conversely, howpoorly the industry, sector of the industry or company is doing in notmanaging risk. Additionally, according to specific embodiments, the riskhealth indicator 41, 42 and/or 44 provides for identifying points ofcompromise, such as ATMs, retailers, processors or the like, which haveabove average fraud rates indicative of having been compromised/hacked.In additional embodiments, the risk health indicator 41, 42 and/or 44provides for identifying locations, zip codes, merchant locations andthe like that have above average risk (e.g., default, fraud, etc.)rates.

Turning the reader's attention to FIG. 5, depicted is an apparatus 12configured for suspicious activity monitoring, in accordance withfurther embodiments of the invention. The apparatus 12 includes acomputing platform 14 having a memory 17 and at least one processor 19.The memory stores suspicious activity monitoring logic/routine 126 thatis configured to provide comprehensive suspicious activity monitoringacross multiple financial institution products, multiple financialinstitution channels and multiple financial institutions. As such, themonitoring is not limited to credit products/data but, since thelogic/routine 126 has access to all of the data provided in thecentralized risk database 100, including deposit data andinvestment/security data, including account data and product data whichdoes not necessarily require credit checks. As such, the monitored data52 is not limited to conventionally monitored credit data, but also anyfinancial institution data 200 including, but not limited to, multiplefinancial institutions' behavior/transaction data 210, product data 220and channel data 240. In addition, monitored data 52 may include accountdata 230, such as account opening and closing data and the like, that isused to identify suspicious activity potentially associated with anidentity theft incident. Additionally, the monitored data 52 may includeasset and liability data 250, including asset data, such as depositbalances, overdrafts, investments and liability data, such as creditoutstanding, credit limits, payment status and the like.

The monitored data 52 may also include linking data 55 that linksbehaviors/transactions to a customer, such as personal identifiers,e.g., name, address, social security number or the like. Additionally,according to specific embodiments, the monitored data 52 may alsoinclude emerging data, such as biometric data 64, including voice,fingerprint and the like. In some embodiments, the personal linking data55 and biometrics data 64 are found within the risk database 100 in thecustomer data 260 and/or 360. The suspicious activity monitoringlogic/routine 126 monitors customers' customer data 260, 360; accountdata 230, 330 and behavior/transaction data 210, 310, for suspiciousactivity 68. Suspicious activities 68 include, but are not limited to,when a customer's personal data and/or financial data appear withinnegative file 270 or 370 (e.g., their telephone number); when there is adeviation in the customer's risk score 26; accounts are opened or closedin the customer's name at financial or non-financial institutions asrecorded in account data 230 and 330; biometric data provided does notmatch biometrics on file for the customer 18; and the like.

The suspicious activity monitoring logic/routine 126 may further beconfigured to receive identity theft queries 65 from financialinstitution, non-financial institution entities and/or customers, anddetermine whether a queried transaction, behavior, person or entityrepresents a likely identity theft incident. The suspicious activitymonitoring logic/routine 126 may rely on any of the monitored data 52 todetermine if the queried transaction, behavior, person or entityrepresents a likely identity theft incident. Based on the results of thequery, a response may be communicated to the querying party and/or otherparties as dictated by the nature of the query, the likelihood of theidentity theft incident or the like. Further, the suspicious activitymonitoring logic/routine 126 may further be configured to receiveidentity validation queries 67 from financial institution, non-financialinstitution entities and/or customers, and validate the identity of aperson or entity identified in the query. The suspicious activitymonitoring logic/routine 126 may rely on any of the monitored data 52 tovalidate the identity of the queried person or entity. Based on theresults of the validation, a response may be communicated to thequerying party and/or other parties that serve to validate or repudiatethe identity of the person or entity.

Based on the occurrence of a suspicious activity 68, the logic/routine126 may, according to specific embodiments, generate and communicate asuspicious activity alert 69 to one or more designated entities, such asfinancial institutions, the customer, non-financial institutions or thelike. Additionally, according to further specific embodiments, thesuspicious activity monitoring logic/routine 126 may be configured togenerate and communicate suspicious activity reports 73, which may becommunicated to designated entities, such as financial institutions,non-financial institutions, customers or the like. Customer review ofsuch reports provides for verification of the compromising event or dataelement.

In certain embodiments of the invention, the suspicious activity reports73 also fulfill the need to supply customers/clients with the data thatis used to detect a suspicious activity, and create their behavioralbaseline scores and/or their risk scores. Additionally, in someembodiments, upon receipt of such reports, should a customer identify anerror in the data reported, they can work with either the supplier ofthe data to correct it, or with the entity managing the risk database100.

Based on the confirmation of an identity theft incident 71 associatedwith identified suspicious activity 68, the logic/routine 126 may,according to specific embodiments, generate and communicate an identitytheft alert 72 to one or more designated entities, such as financialinstitutions, the customer, non-financial institutions or the like.Additionally, according to further specific embodiments, the suspiciousactivity monitoring logic/routine 126 may be configured to generate andcommunicate ID theft reports 75, which may be financial institutions,non-financial institutions, customers or the like.

FIG. 6 provides a more detailed block diagram of the system 10, which,according to some embodiments, collects transaction data acrossfinancial products and channels from multiple financial institutions,data aggregators, and non-financial institutions for the purpose ofreducing risk, for example, risk associated with credit and/or fraud;identifying terrorist financing, tracing money trails associated withillegitimate uses and the like. The system 10 may include one or more ofany type of computerized device. The present system and methods canaccordingly be performed on any form of one or more computing devices.

The system 10 includes memory 17, which may comprise volatile andnon-volatile memory, such as read-only and/or random-access memory (RAMand ROM), EPROM, EEPROM, flash cards, or any memory common to computerplatforms. Further, memory 17 may include one or more flash memorycells, or may be any secondary or tertiary storage device, such asmagnetic media, optical media, tape, or soft or hard disk.

Further, system 10 also includes processor 19, which may be anapplication-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), or other chipset,processor, logic circuit, or other data processing device. Processor 19or other processor such as ASIC may execute an application programminginterface (“API”) 40 that interfaces with any resident programs, such asthe risk evaluating module 400 and related applications/routines and/orlogic or the like stored in the memory 17 of the system 10.

Processor 19 includes various processing subsystems 50 embodied inhardware, firmware, software, and combinations thereof, that enable thefunctionality of system 10 and the operability of the system on anetwork. For example, processing subsystems 50 allow for initiating andmaintaining communications and exchanging data with other networkeddevices. For the disclosed aspects, processing subsystems 50 ofprocessor 19 may include any subsystem used in conjunction with the riskevaluating module 400 or the like or subcomponents or sub-modulesthereof

System 10 additionally includes communications module 60 embodied inhardware, firmware, software, and combinations thereof, that enablescommunications among the various components of the system 10, as well asbetween the other devices in the network. Thus, communications module 60may include the requisite hardware, firmware, software and/orcombinations thereof for establishing a network communicationconnection. It should be appreciated that the communications module 60is the mechanism through which subscribers to various services providedby embodiments of the present invention can submit queries to the system10. It should also be appreciated that the communications module 60 isthe mechanism through which embodiments of the present invention sendsalerts/reports/scores/data to configured recipients and the like.

The memory 17 includes risk evaluating module 400 that is executable byprocessor 19. The risk evaluating module 400 receives data 200 and 300.As previously discussed, the financial institution data 200 may include,but is not limited to, behavior/transaction data 210, product data 220,account data 230, channel data 240, asset & liability data 250, customerdata 260, negative file data 270, counterparty data 280 and claims data290. Further, the non-financial institution data 300 may include, but isnot limited to, behavior/transaction data 310, product data 320, accountdata 330, channel data 340, asset & liability data 350, customer data360, negative file data 370, counterparty data 380 and claims data 390.

The risk evaluating module 400 includes a plurality of logic/routinesconfigured to assess, manage and mitigate risk based on use of the datacollected in the centralized risk database 100. The logic/routines shownin FIG. 6 are by way of example only and, as such, risk evaluatingmodule 400 may include more or less logic/routines as dictated by theimplementation of system 10. In specific embodiments, risk evaluatingmodule 400 includes network building logic/routine 102. The networkbuilding logic/routine 102 is configured to gather data 200 and 300 fromthe centralized risk database 100 and format and correlate the data forthe purpose of communication to and from integrated risk and customerdata network 500 (shown in FIG. 1). The network 500 provides forcommunication of the comprehensive data set. Analytics providers canaccess the network 500 to obtain a single source of high quality data,thereby reducing costs associated with providing analytics. Further,financial institutions can access the network 500 to obtainindustry-wide information about specific customers' history ofrisk/fraud and thereby, reduce costs associated with transacting withhigh-risk customers, as well as access to other aggregated informationfor the purpose of managing risk (e.g., drawing down 100% of their linesof credit across different financial institutions may inform a differentbank's decision to pay an overdraft, or an investment company's decisionto lend on margin). In other embodiments of the invention, financialinstitutions or non-financial institutions can receive notification fromthe system 10 of a change, negative or positive, in risk status.

The risk evaluating module 400 further includes previously describedbehavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106. The behavioral baselinescoring logic/routine 106 generates one, and in many instances multiple,behavioral baseline score(s) for individual customers, or segments ofcustomers or counterparties. The behavioral baseline score defines thenormal transaction behavior for a customer or a segment of customers andmay be customer-behavior or customer-characteristic specific. Accordingto specific embodiments, the behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine106 is configured to access financial institution data 200, and, in someembodiments, the non-financial institution data 300 to determine thebehavioral baseline score. In specific embodiments, the behavioralbaseline scoring logic/routine 106 is configured to calculate/determinea behavioral baseline score based on a plurality of transactioncustomer-specific parameters, including but not limited to, how oftenand when the customer: uses an ATM; calls a call center; visits a branchlocation; accesses online banking; writes a check; uses a debit card;uses a credit card; makes a deposit; the amounts of the relatedtransactions; cross-channel purchasing behaviors, etc. The behavioralbaseline scoring logic/routine 106 then calculates a behavioral baselinescore that represents those considerations and defines what normal andabnormal behaviors are for a customer.

The behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106 is further configuredto determine positive or negative deviations from the baseline score andprovide alerts based on the deviations. According to specificembodiments, risk deviations may be configured to be based on a singleevent/transaction, or a series of events/transactions. Thus, a deviationmay be defined as a predetermined degree of deviation from thebehavioral baseline score or the like. It should also be noted thatdeviations from the baseline may include negative deviations, (i.e.,deviations that increase risk) and positive deviations (i.e., deviationsthat decrease risk).

Further, risk evaluating module 400, according to specific embodiments,includes risk score logic/routine 108 that is configured to determineone or more risk scores for customers, segments or populations ofcustomers and/or counterparties. The risk score and/or segment riskscore and/or counterparty risk score provides an indication of thelikelihood that the customer, the segment of customers or thecounterparty represents a risk that is likely to result in a financialloss, such as likelihood to default, perpetrate a fraud in the future,be involved in a financial crime like terrorist financing or moneylaundering and the like. In some embodiments, it may also indicate thelikelihood that the counterparty, customer or segment is susceptible tobecome a victim of fraud, default or other risk in the future. Acustomer or counterparty may have multiple risk scores (e.g., a riskscore for fraud; a risk score for credit loss; a risk score for moneylaundering, an overall risk score and the like). The risk score is basedupon risk pattern data 34 which identifies risky behaviors/transactions,patterns and combinations thereof.

According to specific embodiments, the risk scores may be based on riskpatterns based off of financial institution data 200. In alternateembodiments, the risk scores may be additionally based on risk patternsbased off of non-financial institution data 300. In further embodimentsof the invention, the risk scores may be based on financial institutionnegative file data 270, and optionally non-financial institutionnegative file data 370 to incorporate history of risk and any negativesassociated with customer data (e.g., incorrect telephone number, highrisk zip code or the like).

The risk score logic/routine 108 may be further configured to assigncustomers or groups of customers to segments based on their risk score.For example, according to specific embodiments, the risk scores may bebased on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest risk and ten isthe highest risk. The risk score logic/routine 108 may be configured toassign customers having a risk score between one and three into a lowrisk segment/group. This low risk group's behaviors are not consideredhigh risk, nor are they associated with any high risk companies orindividuals. There is a low chance that customers in the low risksegment will behave in such a manner such that those doing business withthem will lose money due to fraud, default or other type of risk. Insome embodiments of the invention, these customers are assigned a lowrisk score because their financial behavior is highly predictable,rarely deviating from their behavioral baseline score as calculated bythe behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106.

The risk score logic/routine 108 may be further configured to assigncustomers having a risk score between eight and ten to a high riskgroup, indicating those who do business with these people or entitieshave an above average risk of losing money in these businesstransactions. The high risk group may include customers who engage inmultiple high risk activities (e.g., pay bills late, associate withknown fraudsters, and make large number of cash advances against creditcards to cover overspent costs etc.). The high risk group may alsoinclude customers that have committed fraud or defaulted in the past.The high risk group may also include customers who have highly variablebehaviors which make one or more behavioral baseline scores unreliableand not predictive.

The risk evaluating module 400, according to some embodiments, alsoincludes previously described risk alert logic/routine 114. The riskalert logic/routine 114 generates and communicates risk score alertsand/or risk deviation alerts to the appropriate financial institutionentities, non-financial institution entities or customers based on apredetermined increase or decrease in risk score, a predetermined levelof deviation (positive or negative) and/or a specific deviation event orcombination of deviation events.

Additionally, the risk evaluating module 400, according to someembodiments, also includes previously described third party querylogic/routine 115. The third party query logic/routine 115 is configuredto receive deviation queries, risk score queries or behavioral baselinescore queries from third parties and determine whether behaviors orevents exhibited by customers at the third party are deviations from thenorm (i.e., deviations from the behavioral baseline score) or determinethe current risk score or behavioral baseline score and, based on thedetermination, communicate query responses back to the third party. Inother embodiments, the third party query logic/routine 115 is configuredto look at the customer data 260 and 360 and the negative file data 270and 370 to confirm the customer's personal information and islegitimate. In some embodiments, the third party query logic/routine 115also sets up and executes ongoing refreshes of risk scores andbehavioral baseline scores on a periodic basis to third parties.

According to some embodiments, the risk-evaluating module 400 alsoincludes previously described risk pattern analysis logic/routine 118.The risk pattern analysis logic/routine 118 monitors the collected data,identifies a known risk or a new/emerging type of risk, and generatesrisk pattern reports and/or prompts risk pattern alerts. The known riskor a new/emerging risk type is identified by analyzingbehavior/transaction data 210, 310; claims data 290, 390; and/or thenegative file data 270, 370. In some embodiments of the invention, atleast one of the following data elements are also included in thedetection of new/emerging risk patterns: product data 220, 320; accountdata 230, 330; channel data 240, 340; asset and liability data 250, 350;customer data 260, 360 and counterparty data 280, 380. According tospecific embodiments, the risk pattern analysis logic/routine 118 isconfigured to generate industry-wide reports, as well as reports forindividual financial institutions or non-financial institutions. Inaddition to pattern reporting, risk pattern analysis logic/routine 118may be further configured to prompt generation and communication of riskpattern alerts to designated entities who can then take appropriateaction. For example, if risk pattern data shows high correlation offraud activity coming from customers who take out cash advances againstcredit cards while concurrently overdrawing their checking accounts,designated entities may receive an alert/report outlining the new riskpattern and, in some embodiments, the probability of loss and/orrecoverability associated with this risk pattern.

Further embodiments of the risk evaluating module 400 include previouslymentioned risk health logic/routine 120 that is configured to determinean industry-wide risk health indicator and/or risk health indicator fora segment of an industry, examples of segments, include luxury autos(auto industry); extended stay hotels (lodging industry); credit unionsin Ohio (versus all of the United States financial institutions) or thelike. The risk health indicator, which may be configured as a score orthe like, provides an indication of how well the industry, segment ofthe industry or customer is managing risk (e.g., detecting, preventing,mitigating, recovering, etc.).

According to other specific embodiments, the risk evaluating module 400,leveraging data from the risk database 100, also includeseconomic-trends analysis logic/routine 122. The economic-trends analysislogic/routine 122 monitors the collected data, identifies trends beyondthat of fraud/risk which relate to economic health and generatesreports. In some embodiments of the invention, the economic-trendsanalysis logic/routine 122 may include tools to monitor market risk. Inother embodiments of the invention, the economic-trends analysislogic/routine 122 may generate historical economic activity reportsand/or economic forecasts at segment, industry and geographic levels.

According to further specific embodiments, the risk evaluating module400 also includes previously described suspicious activity monitoringlogic/routine 126. As noted, the suspicious activity monitoringlogic/routine 126 monitors customers' transactions, accounts andpersonal information and sends identity-theft alerts when suspiciousbehavior is identified. The suspicious activity monitoring logic/routine126, because it has access to all of the data 200 and 300 in thecentralized risk database 100, provides more comprehensive protectionthan currently employed identity-theft prevention systems provided bycredit bureaus, which are generally limited to credit products/data anddo not include credit card transaction data. In specific embodiments,the suspicious activity monitoring logic/routine 126 is configured tomonitor transactions and asset/liability accounts and balances acrossmultiple products and multiple financial institutions, including depositand investment transactions and balances, which are not generallyreported to a credit bureau.

According to still further embodiments, the risk evaluating module 400may also include risk-report logic/routine 130. The risk-reportlogic/routine 130 provides risk reports that include an individual's, abusiness' or a segment of the business' history of risk/fraud. Forexample, according to certain embodiments, risk reports may beconfigured to be similar to credit reports, except risk reportsemphasize risk-related information. Risk reports may be used to developan identity score or other identity authentication capabilities basedupon the data collected regarding their financial behaviors,demographics and non-financial behaviors (e.g., calling behavior;Internet surfing behavior and the like).

According to other specific embodiments, the risk evaluating module 400also includes a target marketing logic/routine 132. The target marketinglogic/routine 132 is configured to monitor the collected data, identifycustomers who meet specific risk, behavioral and/or likely profitabilityspecifications and generate target marketing lists or reports. Thetarget marketing logic/routine 132 can also generate segmentation modelsfor the purposes of marketing to customers based on their assets, networth, behaviors, likely profitability and/or risk attributes.

Moreover, in other embodiments, the risk evaluating module 400 may alsoinclude recovery logic/routine 134. The recovery logic/routine 134 isconfigured to leverage the financial information data and thenon-financial institution data in recovery activities, such as providingdata and analytic support to the legal process, identifying partiesinvolved in the risk event, recovering lost funds from appropriateparties and the like.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method 800 for configuring a risk databaseand implementing the database in risk evaluations, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. At Event 810, the financialinstitution data 200 is received from multiple financial institutions.As provided above, financial institutions may provide one or more of thefollowing: behavior/transaction data 210, product data 220, account data230, channel data 240, asset & liability data 250, customer data 260,negative file data 270, counterparty data 280 and claims data 290.

At Event 820, data is received in the risk database 100 from one or morethird party data aggregators 30. As provided above, the data aggregatorsmay provide any and/or all of the same types of data provided by thefinancial institutions and/or the non-financial institution entities. AtEvent 830, non-financial institution data 300 is received fromnon-financial institutions. As provided above, non-financial institutiondata may include behavior/transaction data 310, product data 320,account data 330, channel data 340, asset and liability data 350,customer data 360, negative file data 370, counterparty data 380 andclaims data 390.

At Event 840, negative file data 270 and 370 are received from multiplefinancial institutions, non-financial institutions, data aggregators andthe like to create or update the negative file. As previously noted, thenegative file may include names of high risk entities (e.g., fraudperpetrators, criminals, defaulters, etc.), as well as addresses,telephone numbers, social security numbers, tax identification numbers,IP addresses, device identifiers, biometric data that have beenassociated with high risk individuals or proven to be counterfeit, andthe like.

Next, at Event 850, the risk evaluating module 400 receives data feedsfrom, or otherwise accesses, the risk database that includes datacollected from multiple financial institutions, data aggregators, andnon-financial institutions. The data may include, but is not limited to,the financial institution data 200 and the non-financial institutiondata 300. The data 200 and 300 may be downloaded periodically, or on apredetermined schedule, or on an as-needed basis, or the risk evaluatingmodule 400 may be configured to receive real-time feeds of the data 200and 300.

Next, at Event 860, the behavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106calculates or updates a behavioral-based behavioral baseline score foreach customer and/or customer segments and/or counterparties and for oneor more behaviors based on the data provided in centralized riskdatabase 100. For example, to determine a behavioral-based behavioralbaseline score for a customer, the behavioral baseline scoringlogic/routine 106 may filter and/or search the risk database 100 todetermine which financial institutions are associated with the customerand then identify the accounts related to the customer within eachfinancial institution. In addition, the behavioral baseline scoringlogic/routine 106 may search the transactional data associated with theidentified customer to identify debit patterns, deposit patterns,debit-card-purchase patterns, wire-transfers patterns, cellulartelephone calling patterns, internet surfing patterns and the like. Thebehavioral baseline scoring logic/routine 106 develops a behavioralbaseline scores for the customers, customer segments and/orcounterparties based on the identified patterns.

At Event 870, the risk score logic/routine 108 calculates risk scoresfor each customer and/or customer segment and/or counterparty based onthe data in the centralized risk database 100. According to someembodiments, the risk score logic/routine 108 monitors the customer'sdata for risk pattern data 34 and then calculates the customer's riskscore based, at least in part, on whether any risk pattern data 34 wereidentified, the mix and frequency of the risk pattern data 34 and theprobability of loss associated with each risk pattern data 34identified.

At Event 880, the network building logic/routine 102 is executed toformat and correlate the data 200 and 300, as well as the behavioralbaseline scores and risk scores, and then arranges the data into theintegrated risk and customer data network 500 such that the data 200,and 300 and the baseline and risk scores are organized according tocustomer/customer segment, counterparty or the like. In some embodimentsof the invention, integrated risk and customer data can also organizedata 200 and 300 and, where appropriate the behavioral baseline and riskscores, by other defining traits such as product, channel, geography,network and the like.

FIG. 8 provides another flow diagram of a method 900 for risk assessmentand management, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.At Event 910, financial institution data, associated with a plurality offinancial institutions is received at a centralized risk database 100.In specific embodiments, the financial institution data includestransaction data and/or asset data. In accordance with furtherembodiments, the financial institution data is associated with aplurality of financial institution products and/or a plurality offinancial institution channels. In specific embodiments of theinvention, non-financial institution data from one or more non-financialinstitutions, and/or data aggregator data from one or more dataaggregators are additionally received in the centralized risk database100.

At Event 920, the risk database 100, including at least one of assetdata, such as deposit data or securities/investment data or transactiondata, is monitored to identify a suspicious activity potentiallyassociated with an identity theft incident. In specific embodiments ofthe invention, the monitored financial institution data may include oneor more of, and in some embodiments all of, behavioral data, accountdata, credit data, customer data, negative file data and/or biometricdata. In those embodiments in which the centralized database receivesnon-financial institution data, monitoring may include the non-financialinstitution data, including one or more of, and in some embodiments allof, transaction data, credit data, behavioral data, account data,customer data, negative file data and/or biometric data. At Event 930,in response to identification of a suspicious activity potentiallyassociated with an identity theft incident, the suspicious activity isstored in the centralized database 100.

At optional Event 940, risk management action is initiated based on thesuspicious activity and/or confirmation of an identity theft incidentassociated with the suspicious activity. In specific embodiments of themethod, the risk management action may include generating and initiatingcommunication of a suspicious activity alert and/or identity theft alertand/or a suspicious activity report and/or an identity theft reportbased on one or more suspicious activities and/or confirmed identitytheft incidents. The suspicious activity alert, identity theft alert orassociated reports may be communicated to one or more predeterminedentities, such as financial institutions, businesses, governmentagencies, the affected customer or the like. The alert provides forreal-time notification of a potential identity theft incident or aconfirmed identity theft incident, while the suspicious activity reportand identity theft report provides ongoing notice, such as weekly,monthly notice or the like, of customer activities that may or may nothave been authorized that occurred during the previous report period andnotice of confirmed identity theft incidents.

Thus, present embodiments disclosed in detail above provide formonitoring financial institution data from a plurality of financialinstitutions, including one or more of asset data, such as deposit dataor investment data, transaction data, customer data to identifysuspicious activity incidents potentially associated with identity theftincidents and, in specific embodiments, communicate suspicious activityalerts and/or identity theft alerts and/or associated reports inresponse to identifying suspicious activities potentially associatedwith the identity theft incidents, or confirmation of an identity theftincident. In further embodiments, the monitored financial institutionmay include one or more, and in some embodiments all of, behavioraldata, account data, credit data, customer, negative or biometric data.In addition, in certain embodiments, the monitored data may includenon-financial institution data from one or more non-financialinstitutions, such as merchants, Telcos, ISPs or the like. Thenon-financial institution data may include, but is not limited to,transaction data, account data, behavioral data, credit data, customerdata, negative file data, device data and/or biometric data.

While the foregoing disclosure discusses illustrative embodiments, itshould be noted that various changes and modifications could be madeherein without departing from the scope of the described aspects and/orembodiments as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, althoughelements of the described aspects and/or embodiments may be described orclaimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation tothe singular is explicitly stated. Additionally, all or a portion of anyembodiment may be utilized with all or a portion of any otherembodiment, unless stated otherwise.

While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments aremerely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, andthat this invention not be limited to the specific constructions andarrangements shown and described, since various other changes,combinations, omissions, modifications and substitutions, in addition tothose set forth in the above paragraphs are possible. Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications ofthe just described embodiments can be configured without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understoodthat, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may bepracticed other than as specifically described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for risk management, the apparatus comprising: a computing platform including at least one processor and a memory; a risk database stored in the memory and configured to receive financial institution data, from a plurality of financial institutions via a network, wherein the financial institution data includes negative file data and transaction data associated with a plurality of financial institution products and a plurality of financial institution channels, and wherein the financial institution data includes risk patterns correlated with suspicious activity and identity theft incidents; and a suspicious activity monitoring routine stored in the memory, executable by the processor and configured to (1) analytically monitor the financial institution data and, as a result of the monitoring, identify suspicious activity and theft incident, (2) receive an identity theft query and determine, based on the query, whether a queried one of a transaction, a person or an entity represents a likely identity theft incident; and (3) initiate a risk management action in response to identification of the suspicious activity or in response to confirmation of the likely identity theft incident.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the financial institution data includes customer account data.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the customer account data includes account opening data and account closing data.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the financial institution data includes asset data.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the asset data includes deposit data and investment data.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the financial institution data includes liability data.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the liability data includes outstanding credit data, credit limit data and credit payment data.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data, wherein the financial institution data includes customer biometric data.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and wherein the financial institution data includes customer data.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive non-financial institution data from one or more non-financial institution entities and the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to analytically monitor the non-financial institution data to identify suspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theft incident.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the non-financial institution data from the one or more non-financial institution entities, wherein the entities include one or more of merchants, businesses, utilities, government agencies, health care organizations, social networks, telephone service providers or Internet service providers.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the non-financial institution data and wherein the non-financial institution data includes one or more of transaction data, product data, channel data, account data, credit data, asset data, customer data, device data or biometric data.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive the financial institution data and the non-financial institution data from one or more data aggregators.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the risk database is further configured to receive linking data that links the data received in the risk database to one or more customers.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to receive an identity validation query from at least one of a financial institution, non-financial institution entity or a customer to validate a person's or an entity's identity.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiate communication of a suspicious activity alert based on an identified suspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theft incident.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiate communication of the suspicious activity alert to one or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions or customers.
 18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiate communication of an identity theft alert based on confirmation that the suspicious activity is associated with an identity theft incident.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiate communication of the identity theft alert to one or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions or customers.
 20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiate communication of a suspicious activity report based on one or more identified suspicious activities.
 21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suspicious activity monitoring routine is further configured to generate and initiate communication of an identity theft report based on confirmation of one or more identity theft incidents.
 22. A method for risk management, the method comprising: receiving, at a risk database stored in computing device memory, financial institution data from a plurality of financial institutions communicated via a network, wherein the financial institution data includes negative file data and transaction data associated with a plurality of financial institution products and a plurality of financial institution channels, and wherein the financial institution data includes risk patterns correlated with suspicious activity and identity theft incidents; monitoring, via a computing device processor, the financial institution data in the risk database and, as a result of the monitoring, identify a suspicious activity and identity theft incident; receiving, via a computing device processor, an identity theft query and, based on the query, determining whether a queried one of a transaction, a person or an entity represents a likely identity theft incident; and initiating, via a computing device processor, a risk management action in response to identification of the suspicious activity or in response to confirmation of the likely identity theft incident.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including customer account data.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including the customer account data, wherein the customer account data includes account opening data and account closing data.
 25. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including customer asset data.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including the customer asset data, wherein the customer asset data includes deposit data and investment data.
 27. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including customer liability data.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including the customer liability data, wherein the customer liability data includes outstanding credit data, credit limit data and credit payment data.
 29. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including customer biometric data.
 30. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data including customer data.
 31. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving non-financial institution data from one or more non-financial institution entities, and monitoring further comprises monitoring the non-financial institution data to identify suspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theft incident.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein receiving further comprises receiving non-financial institution data from one or more non-financial institution entities wherein the non-financial institution entities include one or more of merchants, businesses, utilities, government agencies, health care organizations, social networks, telephone service providers or Internet service providers.
 33. The method of claim 31, wherein receiving further comprises receiving the non-financial institution data, including at least one of transaction data, product data, channel data, account data, credit data, asset data, customer data, device data or biometric data.
 34. The method of claim 31, wherein receiving further comprises receiving, at the risk database stored in computing device memory, the financial institution data and the non-financial institution data from one or more data aggregators.
 35. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving further comprises receiving linking data that links the data received in the risk database to one or more customers.
 36. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving an identity validation query from at least one of a financial institution, non-financial institution entity or a customer and validating a person's or entity's identity based on the query.
 37. The method of claim 22, wherein initiating further comprises generating and initiating communication of a suspicious activity alert based on an identified suspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theft incident.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein generating further comprises generating and initiating communication of the suspicious activity alert to one or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions or customers.
 39. The method of claim 22, wherein initiating further comprises generating and initiating communication of an identity theft alert based on confirmation that the suspicious activity is associated with an identity theft incident.
 40. The method of claim 39, wherein generating further comprises generating and initiating communication of the identity theft alert to one or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions or customers.
 41. The method of claim 22, wherein initiating further comprises generating and initiating communication of a suspicious activity report based on one or more identified suspicious activities potentially associated with one or more identity theft incidents.
 42. The method of claim 22, wherein initiating further comprises generating and initiating communication of an identity theft report based on confirmation of one or more identity theft incidents.
 43. A computer program product comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computing device processor, wherein the instructions are executable to: receive financial institution data from a plurality of financial institutions via a network, wherein the financial institution data includes transaction data associated with a plurality of financial institution products and a plurality of financial institution channels, and wherein the financial institution data includes risk patterns correlated with suspicious activity and identity theft incidents; monitor the financial institution data in the risk database to result in identification of a suspicious activity and an identity theft incident; receive an identity theft query and, based on the query, determining whether a queried one of a transaction, a person or an entity represents a likely identity theft incident; and initiate a risk management action in response to identification of the suspicious activity or in response to confirmation of the likely identity theft incident.
 44. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including customer account data.
 45. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including the customer account data, wherein the customer account data includes account opening data and account closing data.
 46. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including customer asset data.
 47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including the customer asset data, wherein the customer asset data includes deposit data and investment data.
 48. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including customer liability data.
 49. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including the customer liability data, wherein the customer liability data includes outstanding credit data, credit limit data and credit payment data.
 50. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including customer biometric data.
 51. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data, including customer data.
 52. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive non-financial institution data from one or more non-financial institution entities, and wherein the instructions executable to monitor are further executable to monitor the non-financial institution data to identify suspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theft incident.
 53. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive non-financial institution data from one or more non-financial institution entities and wherein the non-financial institution entities include one or more of merchants, businesses, utilities, government agencies, health care organizations, social networks, telephone service providers or Internet service providers.
 54. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the non-financial institution data, including at least one of transaction data, product data, channel data, account data, credit data, asset data, customer data, device data or biometric data.
 55. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive the financial institution data and the non-financial institution data from one or more data aggregators.
 56. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to receive are further executable to receive linking data that links data received in the risk database to one or more customers.
 57. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising instructions executable to receive an identity validation query from at least one of a financial institution, non-financial institution entity or a customer, and instructions executable to validate a person's or an entity's identity based on the query.
 58. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to initiate are further executable to generate and initiate communication of a suspicious activity alert based on an identified suspicious activity potentially associated with an identity theft incident.
 59. The computer program product of claim 56, wherein the instructions executable to initiate are further executable to generate and initiate communication of the suspicious activity alert to one or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions or customers.
 60. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to initiate are further executable to generate and initiate communication of an identity theft alert based on a confirmation of an identity theft incident.
 61. The computer program product of claim 57, wherein the instructions executable to initiate are further executable to generate and initiate communication of the identity theft alert to one or more of financial institutions, non-financial institutions or customers.
 62. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to initiate are further executable to generate and initiate communication of a suspicious activity report based on one or more identified suspicious activities potentially associated with one or more identity theft incidents.
 63. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions executable to initiate are further executable to generate and initiate communication of an identity theft report based on confirmation of one or more identity theft incidents. 